Longest lunar eclipse of the century to happen Friday

28 July, 2018

The Moon goes reddish in colour during the total lunar eclipse as it fails to receive any of the direct sunlight and hence reflects the colours thrown out by the Earth's atmosphere.

The total eclipse lasted 1 hour, 42 minutes and 57 seconds, though a partial eclipse preceded and follows, meaning the moon will spend a total of almost 4 hours in the Earth's umbral shadow, according to Nasa.

At that point, it would enter the part of shadow known as the umbra (darkest part of the shadow) and start to turn red.

On the east coast of Australia, the eclipse began at 3.14am (AEST), with the Earth's shadow slowly taking a bite out of the pearly white full moon.

The reason we don't get eclipses every month is because the moon orbits Earth on a slightly inclined plane of five degrees.

As with most eclipses, conspiracy theorists believe it is a sign of the end times and is referred to as the Blood Moon prophecy.

The best place to see it was in central Scotland and Oxfordshire where the clouds parted allowing people to see the longest lunar eclipse so far this century.

The moon turns red during a total lunar eclipse, as seen from Dresden, Germany, Friday, July 27, 2018.

The areas in white indicate where the entire 103 minutes of the total lunar eclipse will be visible July 27.

The best views were in Western Australia because it was still dark during the lunar eclipse process.

Also in the celestial mix, Mars will be in opposition on Friday - meaning it and the sun will be on opposite sides of Earth on the same day as the total lunar eclipse.

The blue blood moon in January this year was the last time an eclipse occurred.

The next time a similarly extended eclipse will happen again is in 2025.

Photographer James Morgan managed to capture the blood moon perfectly through the Sydney Harbour Bridge. This eclipse is a total lunar eclipse, which means it will be particularly red.

Rare lunar events like these are something to look forward to now, but you can imagine that they were pretty spooky spectacles in the old days.

If you are a lover of sky-gazing lover, do not miss the opportunity to enjoy tonight's spectacular red moon.

According to scientists, the longest possible theoretical duration for totality during a lunar eclipse is 107 minutes.

"Such long duration of total lunar eclipses had occurred on July 16, 2000 for a totality duration of one hour 46 minutes and another on June 15, 2011 for a totality duration of one hour 40 minutes".

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